Chapter 7 Before the magnificent (Part 2)

At this point, Xiao Chengqian looked at me and asked with a smile, “You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? Does it sound amazing every time you hear it?”

“Yes, every time I hear it, I feel sad.” I looked at the warm sun, the slightly swaying bamboo leaves, and the dappled sunlight, and I simply lay down on this large flat stone. Everything was so peaceful and beautiful at this time, but how could I appreciate its preciousness without going through the stormy weather?

“Sad?” Xiao Chengqian raised his eyebrows slightly, as if he didn’t quite understand my emotions.

“Yes, I’m sad.” I lay on the flat rock, and the sunlight shining into my eyes made me involuntarily close my eyes slightly, and then I said, “You and I are both Taoists. Haven’t you heard of a saying? Only when the body is particularly weak, like in a serious illness… or when the individual’s will is particularly weak, is the soul’s perception particularly acute? This kid, Huigen, doesn’t belong to the category of people with strong spiritual awareness. What does his sudden feeling indicate? Heh… it only shows that he was at his limit in that situation. He was too rigid and easily broken. That’s what I mean by Hui Gen’er.

My tone was flat at the moment, but my sad mood was not flat… Hui Gen was extremely cute when he was a child, but this cuteness was only superficial. Deep down, this child was the typical type who would rather die than be broken. In Lu Fanming’s basement, the moment he took out the dagger, he already showed this rigidity vividly.

Xiao Chengqian was silent for a long time, and he didn’t know how long it had been before he said, “At the time, when Hui Gen’er said this, he was so sure, and his tone was instantly sobered up, unlike the mumbling nonsense, but no one believed it. Perhaps it had been a long time since we had been desperate, and hope was just an instinctive wait for us. When it really came, it was only comforting and illusory for a while. Not only me, but everyone else too… Everyone thought that Huigen had gone crazy and was even more upset. I remember at that time, Ruyue leaned against the wall, holding back her tears, and biting her lower lip until it bled.

“I carried Huigen out of the confinement room… Of course, someone stopped me, and at that moment, everyone was like crazy. Can you imagine? A group of cultivators wearing heavy shackles, fighting like street thugs… I can’t describe the chaos at the time. The few guys guarding the confinement room were almost beaten to death… Fortunately, and inevitably, there was no so-called old monster to stop us at that time… Except for Tao Bai, the rest of us left the confinement room like this. The wind and snow outside were very strong, and it was blowing in our eyes. Everyone protected me in the middle because I was carrying Huigen. The people from the holy village surrounded us, but they were just ordinary people. Where were the cultivators? But they didn’t dare to rush forward. I think our crazy looks scared them at the time. When Xiao Chengqian talked about this past, his tone had already returned to a slight calm, but in the midst of the wind and snow, that kind of tragic and desolate scene seemed to be right in front of me.

He had made up his mind to save Huigen. In fact, wasn’t that also a kind of will to complete this task even if it meant death? Everyone knew the consequences, including the exchange that Xiao Chengqian had mentioned at the beginning, which was also a consequence.

He didn’t explain it in detail, but I knew what it meant.

“We walked step by step in the holy village. At that time, we didn’t have too many thoughts. We just wanted to find a warm house for Huigen to rest in, and then find medicine and some nutritious food for her to eat. You know, during the days in the isolation room, those old monsters deliberately made them eat ‘pig food’. The scary thing is that even ‘pig food’ wasn’t enough to eat! More and more people surrounded us. When we were about to enter the village, I don’t know who started agitating, and those people were going to do something to us… and the so-called “village officials” in the village had already run quickly to the inner village, presumably to “complain.” I thought at that time, all that was left was to fight desperately… I was actually prepared to wait for you. But…” Xiao Chengqian’s face suddenly broke into a smile.

I smiled too. I had heard this story many times before, and couldn’t help but say, “But, my master and the others showed up, right?”

“Yes… they appeared! The first thing I heard was Master Hui’s voice, a loud “What are those people doing there? Where are my apprentices?” When I first heard it, I was a little confused. After all, I hadn’t had much contact with Master Hui before, and I wasn’t familiar with his voice. He was shouting in Mandarin, not his Shaanxi accent, so… But I remember that Hui Gen, who had been lying on my back in a daze, suddenly twisted his body a few times, as if trying to break free and jump to the ground. But he didn’t have much strength left. I began to hear him muttering, “Master, isn’t Master here?” Then a stream of tears fell on my neck, hot, and when the wind blew, they were cool.” It was a difficult emotion, but it made people want to laugh and cry at the same time.

It’s like the first ray of sunshine after a long period of darkness finally shines on the faces of people who have traveled thousands of miles in search of it. What other expression can there be besides smiling and crying?

“I was confused, but there were many people there who were more lucid than I was… I saw Chengxin, who was walking in front of me, suddenly kneel down, punch the snow with a fist, and cry out, ‘Oh my God! I suddenly couldn’t stop crying. I saw Chengqing, who was standing next to me, suddenly looking at the sky, wanting to stay calm, but tears kept flowing down her face. I saw Chengyuan covering her mouth, and Chengzhen holding her from behind, trying to comfort her. The two of them…” Xiao Chengqian’s voice suddenly became a little choked, and he couldn’t continue.

“Anyway, I was very confused. In the flying snow, I couldn’t see everyone clearly, but suddenly I had a flash of enlightenment. I’m afraid I’ve been waiting for a long time, searching for a long time… At this moment, the sky finally brightened, right? I couldn’t help it either. I almost couldn’t hold back my tears. I just felt my whole body shaking, even my whole body was weak… I heard screams coming from the crowd, and saw people falling down or being thrown up and down at the edge of the crowd. Then people made way, made way out of fear. I saw a man standing in the front with his upper body naked. “Xiao Chengqian said this, and suddenly couldn’t help but wipe his face casually.

Was that a tear? A tear stimulated by deep memories that cannot be forgotten and deep emotions that cannot be replicated?

I just pretended not to see. At times like this, men always need to save face. I did, and so did Xiao Chengqian.

After a moment of calm, Xiao Chengqian continued, “That man is my eighth uncle… you know, Xiao Lao Ba! Because of our special lineage, the Wu and Xiao surnames have long been intermarried, plus a few other families, but none of our two clans have the same high status in this lineage… so the names are also confusing, so don’t mind it.”

This is how family-style inheritance works. It is particularly messy. Unlike secular families, the families of cultivators also pay attention to talent. So whether or not it is a legitimate surname Wu is not important. As long as it is a bloodline, it will do.

I shook my head to show that I didn’t care, and Xiao Chengqian continued, “At that time, did you know? When I saw my eighth uncle, I almost went crazy. The root of wisdom was originally on my back, but I accidentally dropped it on the ground. I subconsciously tried to pick it up again, but I was half kneeling on the ground, looking at my eighth uncle, and I cried out… and I couldn’t move anymore. At that moment, except for the falling snowflakes, I couldn’t see anything clearly. I wasn’t crying, I was just… just… unable to see clearly, right?

Xiao Chengqian smiled as he said this. Whether he had cried or not was not very important. Who would ask?

Perhaps he himself also felt that such a cover-up might be too far-fetched, and he couldn’t help but smile and say, “But my eighth uncle didn’t have time to say anything before he was suddenly pushed aside. Then I saw Master Hui, who stared at Hui Gen, and suddenly roared at the crowd, ‘Who turned my apprentice into this state?’, Chengyi, you didn’t see it with your own eyes, but Master Hui at that time was extremely terrifying. The raging anger seemed to burn to the horizon. None of the people present dared to speak.”

In fact, I don’t need to see it to know how angry Master Hui was at that moment, and I also know how shocking the consequences of this anger would be!

I continued to listen with a smile. This kind of regret that I could not experience personally made me listen to this story a hundred times, and I would never get tired of it!

“But then, as soon as Grandpa Hui finished speaking, I felt a gust of wind as if it had hit me in the face. I hadn’t even had time to react before I was tightly embraced in his arms. I… I didn’t look up at that time. Yes, I actually cried because I didn’t have to look up and I knew it was my grandfather… When I was little, I was the most talented one in the family, so my grandfather especially loved me. I spent almost all of my earliest years in his arms because he especially liked to hold me in his arms. How could I forget the feeling of being held like that? How could I… Was I really that upset? In fact, I was very calm, thinking, “Grandpa is back.” But I couldn’t help crying. I don’t know what happened. I thought I would have a lot to say when I saw him again, but all I heard him say was, “Chengqian, you’ve lost weight. But life is not good out of the family.” Xiao Chengqian’s eyes were already red when he said this.

In fact, what is there to say? Just like when I saw my master again, the way he expressed his longing for me was to kick me hard in the butt and then scold me a bit.

I didn’t have any overly emotional thoughts in my heart, and the only two words that kept repeating in my mind were “Master!”

I don’t need to hear Xiao Chengqian’s story to know the rest of the conversation, because I’ve heard it many times.

Hui Gen was picked up by Hui Da Ye. In a daze, Hui Gen said, “Master, you’re here, but I feel sick.”

Grandpa Hui said, “You must have eaten too few eggs. Why is your body not working?”

As for Brother Chengxin, he was helped up by Uncle Chen. Usually so ‘poisonous tongue’, because he appeared to be ‘smart-mouthed’ at that time, he actually said to Uncle Chen, “Master, my glasses fell to the ground.”

Uncle Chen said, “Master is here. You can pick up your glasses later. Let Master take a good look at you.”

“But I can’t see you clearly without my glasses.” After saying this, Brother Chengxin began to cry without any dignity. You have to know that he has always been an elegant man.

As for Chengzhen and Chengyuan, they were pulled away by Uncle Wang, who said, “Are you crying for me? I’m not dead yet, am I?”

The two little girls were so overwhelmed by the unpredictable Wang Shishu that they couldn’t say a word.

Ru Yue was in Ling Qing’s arms. She had a lot to say. After all, Ru Xue had already been left alone in the Dragon Tomb. In the end, she only said one thing: “Grandma, I’m so miserable.”

“It’s okay, Grandma is back.” Grandma Ling Qing stroked Ru Yue’s long hair and said this very simply, then tightly embraced Ru Yue in her arms.

The reunion at that moment was eternal… In such a reunion, the last sentence was said by my master: “Let’s go, you people, leave if you can. If you are stubborn and want to stop us, don’t blame me for being merciless… My apprentice’s life is still at stake, and I really don’t have the mood to talk to you any more!”

Yes, at that time, I was still in danger of losing my life, and my master stood up!

The rest is needless to say. With the destruction of the gods, the old monsters in the holy village were completely out of combat, and these ordinary people or ordinary cultivators were no match for my master and his party!

So, after saving Tao Bai, everything went smoothly and they escaped from the Holy Village… They hurried day and night to return to the Bamboo Grove.

After recalling the past, Xiao Chengqian suddenly said to me, “Now that you’ve heard all this, don’t you feel that happiness is hard to come by, and that it’s even harder to be together?

“If it weren’t like this, why would everyone, whether they be elders or younger generations, never mention the past? Because happiness is peaceful. When it comes, I would rather have pure happiness. This is not an escape. I just, no, we just want to be happy for a while.” I said calmly, with a smile on my lips.

But Xiao Chengqian sighed and said, “Yes, that’s right. But I’m afraid the peaceful happiness is coming to an end.”